The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Friday, March 29, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

UNC swimming and diving opens its season with a pair of losses to N.C. State

DTH_Sequence-20191025_Cofield_Swim_003.jpg
Freshman, Adam Kerr competes in the Men's 200 Yard Butterly event against Georgia on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019

The North Carolina swimming and diving team kicked off its 2020-2021 season on Friday and Saturday with a dual-meet at home against N.C. State. Both the No. 18 women’s team and the No. 24 men's team fell to N.C. State, ending the night with scores of 224-167 and 212.5-201.5, respectively. 

What Happened

The North Carolina swimming teams put up a fight against the N.C. State men and women —  both of which are both ranked in the top 10 — but ultimately fell short. The women’s team racked up several first and second place wins in various events, with impressive performances from juniors Grace Countie and Sophie Lindner.

Lindner won second-place in multiple events, including the women’s 50-yard backstroke with a time of 25.40 seconds, racking up points for the Tar Heels. Countie also had an impressive performance, winning two second-place awards and one first place award in the women’s 150-yard freestyle.

The men’s team was off to a great start after the men’s 200-yard medley relay. UNC’s relay team — which includes Tucker Burhans, Valdas Abaliksta, Boyd Poelke and Tyler Hill — won first place in the opening swimming event of the meet. 

“The men’s medley relay established our presence,” UNC head coach Mark Gangloff said. “When you kick a meet off like that it means a lot to the team.”

UNC also went on to win the second men’s relay, led by senior Eli Coan and followed up by Tyler Hill and Daniel Koenigsperger. Tomas Sungaila finished the relay with a time of 1:21.51, winning 11 last points for UNC and bringing its final score to 201.5.

Junior diver Emily Grund won first place in both diving events, the 1-meter and 3-meter, winning 18 points for UNC.

The UNC men’s diving team took first and second place in both of their events. Junior Anton Down-Jenkins and sophomore Alex Hart won a combined 26 points for the Tar Heels in their respective events.

Who stood out?

First-year Boyd Poelke debuted with a very impressive performance throughout the meet, winning first place in two events, the men’s 50-yard butterfly and 100-yard butterfly, and second place in the men’s 150 yard butterfly.

Gangloff also said some of his top women's swimmers, like Countie and Lindner, had stand out performances to keep the meet close with the No. 6 women's team in the country. 

When was it decided?

The women’s team was off to an impressive start, but N.C. State quickly stole the lead, winning first in 17 of the 22 events.

The men’s meet was much closer, not decided until the last couple of events. First place awards went back-and-forth, but ultimately UNC couldn’t get the key points to catch them up to N.C. State.

Why does it matter?

After an uncertain offseason and schedule changes due to COVID-19, Gangloff said he is is just excited to see his athletes back in the pool.

“Honestly, just trying to get everyone competing again,” Gangloff said. “Our sport generally is a lot of hard work, and we have typically very few meets versus the amount of training we do, so it's really rewarding to be able to compete.”

Gangloff said the team did not go in with a specific goal in mind for the meet, but that it wanted to remain competitive against an elite N.C. State program.  

“They can compete against anybody," Gangloff said. "I think that that’s my main goal for them. You don’t have to be scared of any team in the country, you can go out there with the expectation that you can race them as hard as anybody else."

When do they play next?

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.

UNC will travel to Greensboro, North Carolina on next Friday, Nov. 13 for the U.S. Open and its second meet of the season.

@annagrace342

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com